Rating: Needs Parent Supervision

Reading Level: Late Elementary

This is a guest-post contributed by my amazing husband!

This was pretty much the first two Iron Man movies, so very entertaining but not necessarily appropriate for all younger audiences.

Possible Concerns:

  • Violence, Guns, and Weapons. In addition to the typical violence of superhero stories, Tony is a weapons manufacturer and this plays a large role in the story. Eventually Tony has a change of heart about weapons he has made and tries to destroy them.
  • Kidnapping. Tony is captured by terrorists using his weapons.
  • Middle-Eastern & Russian villains. Tony’s captors are from Afghanistan. The Villain in part 2 is from Russia and has a Slavic-sounding last name. People who want to build bridges with other cultures and overcome fear may not wish to feed possible stereotypes.
  • Gambling. Tony goes to a Casino, and the book glamorizes his gambling success.
  • Poor model of courtship. Tony is accompanied by multiple women at the casino.
  • Luck. Tonya has one of the women blow on the dice for luck.
  • Language. Nothing too concerning: a friend says, “Heck with you.”
  • Roles of women. Tony is surprised when a soldier is a woman; then he realizes: “Isn’t this what we’re fighting for? The right of all people to be equal?”
  • Suicide mission. A friend basically takes on a suicide mission to save Tony. He tells Tony he’s going to go see his family. Tony doesn’t realize he means he will see them in the afterlife. The book frames it as a noble act of self-sacrifice, but parents should be aware.
  • Romance. Tony kisses Pepper after he rescues her from a big explosion. It says, “They both knew what was coming, so they just went ahead and kissed.” Doesn’t seem like a good model of self-control.